White House Gardens Go Public for Weekend

First Lady Laura Bush, showing off the White House gardens Friday, recounted the heartbreak she felt walking through them after the Sept. 11 attacks and the comfort they provided later.

The gardens are open to the public this weekend.

“These grounds have given solace to me, and I know to President Bush,” the first lady said from the White House’s East Garden.

The annual invitation for the White House garden tours featured a day as sunny and clear as that of Sept. 11, 2001. Unlike the president, who was in Florida that day, Mrs. Bush was at the executive mansion and was evacuated with the staff after the hijacked aircraft hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“I remember what it was like that morning as I left,” Mrs. Bush said. “And then to come back late that evening to the White House after that day was especially heartbreaking.”

A total of 12,600 tickets are to be distributed for today’s and Sunday’s garden tours on what is considered to be the oldest continually maintained landscape in the United States.

Shortly after Mrs. Bush met with reporters, her husband and British Prime Minister Tony Blair held a news conference in the nearby Rose Garden.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, where Mrs. Bush spoke, is based on a traditional 18th century American garden and features tulips and grape hyacinth.